A CAMPANELLA TO THE GODDESS
“Goddess, I did it! I-I slew a goblin!”
“…Ohh?”
Hestia had been enjoying an afternoon of reading on the sofa.
She looked up from her book when the door opened with a loud bang. That’s when she saw a white-haired human with a very proud look on his face as he proclaimed victory.
Hestia Familia’s home, a hidden room beneath an old church.
The room itself had two parts, one square and one long, coming together to make a P shape. While it was the perfect height for people to be comfortable, the sheer amount of furniture and other items in the room made it feel quite cramped. The building itself was rather old. There were cracks in many places all over the stone walls, and the general atmosphere of the place felt shabby and run-down.
The light from the one magic-stone lamp on the ceiling reflecting off her blank eyes, Hestia stared at the only member of her Familia ?Bell Cranell.
The boy in front of her seemed extremely happy, his face beaming as if he’d just pulled off an amazing feat.
“Goblin…As in that goblin? The weakest monster in the entire Dungeon, that monster?”
“Yes! One of them nearly killed me when I was a little kid, so I’ve always been scared of them, but…today, I finally slew one!”
“So, um…Just one?”
“Eh?”
“You killed one goblin and came all the way back here from the Dungeon to tell me?”
Bell’s face suddenly went cold, his body still for several moments as he thought about Hestia’s question. He had indeed killed only one monster, the weakest one, and come all the way back home.
The boy suddenly realized how insignificant his victory was with great dismay. The face that had been sparkling with joy moments earlier became downtrodden and ashamed. Bell turned around on the spot, hunched forward with his shoulders hanging low.
“I’m going back to the Dungeon. Sorry to have disturbed you…”
“Wh-wha—what?! Sorry, Bell, I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything…H-hold on a second!”
Not hearing Hestia’s calls, Bell disappeared from the doorway, his ears bright red from embarrassment.
Hestia Familia had been founded three days earlier.
That’s when Hestia had found Bell in the middle of the city and invited him to be a member of her Familia.
After accepting her invitation and receiving her Blessing, Bell had joined the ranks of adventurers by registering with the Guild. The responsibility of providing for his Familia fell squarely on his shoulders. He welcomed this role, but being away from his hometown in a place so different from what he was used to weighed heavily on his mind as he set to work.
Hestia watched over the boy while doing a part-time job of her own. It seemed like she was discovering something new about him every time they were together. A beautiful, young goddess who always wore her heart on her sleeve, Hestia was doing her best to get to know the shy boy struggling to come out of his shell. Even though they had only been together for a few days, they were already on very good terms.
Among all the Familias in the city of Orario, Hestia Familia was a bottom-tier group that had to focus on earning enough money to make it through the day. The two of them were a team, building on their loose foundation as they started down this road together.
“I was worried for a while there. If something happened and you didn’t come home, I would’ve had nightmares for a very long time.”
“S-sorry to make you worry……”
“Ah-ha-ha, what about? This was my fault, saying all that. I’m the one who should be apologizing. Sorry, Bell.”
Hestia and Bell were sitting across from each other at the table in their home.
Bell had made it safely home from his second trip to the Dungeon that day and it was now very late. The pair ate a late dinner in a room where the light of the shining moon in the night sky could not reach them.
Bell’s total earnings from his first day of dungeon crawling—300 vals, all of which had been used right away to buy a few stiff loaves of bread and eggs. They spent a lot of time making the eggs look more appetizing than usual and lined them up on the table.
Even though it wasn’t much, the yolks of the freshly cooked eggs looked warm and fresh under the light of the magic-stone lamp.
“So how was it, Bell, your Dungeon debut? Does it seem promising?”
“Well, I was too nervous to go all that deep, but…I can hold my own against monsters. It got easier after taking down one goblin and a kobold.”
The extra effort put into making tonight’s dinner was to celebrate Bell’s first dungeon crawl.
They couldn’t afford to get anything extra special, but Hestia and Bell smiled with satisfaction as they enjoyed their fried eggs on toast.
“But I’m relieved to hear that. It sounds like you’ll be able to make a living as an adventurer, Bell. I was a little concerned that you would spend all of your time chasing after girls in the Dungeon.”
“I-I’m not doing that, why would I be doing that?!”
Hestia was only teasing, but Bell’s face turned bright red as his voice went up an octave or two.
Hestia raised an eyebrow, looking at the panicking boy, and said, “I wonder.
“You’re trying to pick up girls, aren’t you? Find some cute adventurer ladies and make them swoon as you dispatch monsters left and right. That’s when you make your move, is it not?”
“M-make a move…! I-it’s not like that! I don’t want to get with a whole bunch of girls…Well, a little but…A-anyway, I’m looking for the girl of my dreams, the one I’m destined to be with! Like the ones in tales of heroes!”
“Didn’t you say you wanted a harem of your own?”
“A-a harem is a man’s romantic dream! It’s something that I must strive for as a man, just like the heroes…”
Bell closed his ruby-red eyes, his cheeks a deeper scarlet than before as he talked.
Hestia lightly shrugged her shoulders as she stared at Bell from across the table. Her thoughts went wild as she took in his boyish features.
The more she knew about Bell Cranell, the stranger he seemed to be.
Despite being extremely shy, he was a womanizer. He wanted to meet the ladies but wouldn’t make a move. In other words, his personality didn’t make sense. For better or worse, something else seemed to be motivating his words and actions from behind his pure and straightforward personality.
Hestia believed that the cause of this inner conflict had something to do with the boy’s grandfather, the one who raised him.
That man’s fingerprints were all over many of the stories that Bell told, as well as one or two of the thoughts in his head.
Hestia had to marvel at this man whom she had never met and his methods of brainwashing by means of using heroes for role models. She sighed to herself, thinking about what kind of man Bell could have become if he had just had a proper upbringing. His roots, even the way he thought, could all be traced back to that one man.
Bell’s obsession with girls and his quest to find “the one” all started and ended with him.
The image of this beautiful girl that he left behind, or implanted, in Bell’s head must be very powerful.
A boy whose eyes light up with a good story, his mind always in the clouds.
That’s who the boy, Bell Cranell, really was.
Maybe it would’ve been better if he had been born a girl. A very blunt thought passed through Hestia’s mind.
“Gramps told me so. Meeting girls is every man’s lifelong ambition. So that’s why I…”
“…”
Hestia watched the boy vigorously try to explain himself.
Hestia was learning more and more about him, her first family member.
While Bell was in the Dungeon earning money for his Familia, Hestia also was busy working at her part-time job.
She was a lot like Bell, in that she hadn’t lived in Orario for very long and she was always trying to figure out what she had to do next. Living on Gekai was much more difficult than the life of luxury she was used to in Tenkai. All the other gods kept saying, “Come and experience the charm of Gekai.” It was true, she would never have felt these hardships living in the upper world. But these “charms” were starting to get a little overwhelming.
“Here you are, little Hestia. This is today’s pay.”
“Thanks, Gram.”
A female animal person handed her an envelope that contained her pay.
Hestia was working at a street stand that was situated on North Main Street. They sold a snack called Crispy Potato Puffs: mashed potatoes mixed with seasoning, rolled in batter, and deep-fried to make small potato snacks.
Whatever potion they’d been using as a secret ingredient seemed to be working because they did pretty good business every day.
One, two, three…180 vals.
She worked six hours today at 30 vals per hour. Despite knowing exactly how much was inside the envelope before opening it, seeing how little she earned in the palm of her hand made Hestia sigh.
Not too long ago, she’d made a mistake when setting up the fryer and everything exploded in her face—there were zero injuries, other than Hestia’s instant breadcrumb coating. The money to make repairs was taken out of her paycheck every day. At this rate, it would be a long time before Hestia could help Bell provide for their Familia.
This world called Gekai was extremely harsh on a young goddess who’d only just arrived.
At least that’s what Hestia thought, never once taking her own failures into account.
“Hey, Gram, why don’t you join my Familia? A young adventurer just joined me and we’re on our way up in the world.”
“Ah-ha-ha, you mustn’t say such things, no-no. Good grief, Hestia, you are so persistent.”
“But why—? Please—!”
Hestia prepared to leave as the woman laughed at yet another invitation to join Hestia Familia, a daily occurrence at this point.
Part of it was that Hestia Familia was an unknown group with no reputation, but the biggest problem was the goddess’s lack of dignity.
The woman patted Hestia on the head and gave her a potato puff before seeing her out the door—she was a goddess who was being treated like a child. This realization made her sigh yet again.
“What a long day…”
Hestia made her way through the red evening streets, cheeks puffing out as she stuffed the whole potato puff into her mouth at once.
Usually she was home before the sky turned a deep red, so she had, in fact, worked longer than usual today. Bell might be home already, she thought to herself as she trudged forward.
Hestia Familia’s home, a room beneath an old church, was located on a city block between Northwest and West Main Streets. So Hestia set out due west from the street stall on North Main Street.
At first, her route took her straight through a nice neighborhood built out of bricks and very well maintained. But the farther she went, the shabbier the buildings around her became. Really old item shops, run-down motels, and dingy pubs lined the street until she suddenly emerged onto Northwest Main.
The street was often called “Adventurers Way” because the Guild Headquarters was built on it. Adventurers of all shapes and sizes strutted their way up and down the road. The shops and buildings that lined the street made the ones that Hestia just passed by look like piles of trash.
“…Isn’t that…?”
Hestia was making her way across the street, her long shadow mixing with the crowd as the sun set behind the wall that surrounded the city, when she happened to see someone by chance.
A white-haired human boy was standing outside a shop.
Bell…?
The member of her Familia had his back to the throngs of adventurers and had his eyes locked on something in the shop’s show window. Seeing the boy so intensely fixated on whatever was inside made Hestia come to a stop in the middle of the road.
A few moments went by before Bell’s shoulders drooped and he practically tore himself away from the window. At long last the boy took his eyes off the shop and left.
Hestia watched him disappear into the crowd before rushing up to the window. Tup-tup-tup-tup, the soles of her shoes echoed off the stone road as she went.
“…So that’s what it was.”
After seeing with her own eyes what in the show window Bell had been ogling for so long, she knew why he had been so interested.
The show window was filled with different types of weapons. Freshly polished, strong blades of all sizes sparkled beautifully in the display.
Whether Bell had been drawn here when he was passing by or by the power of envy in a wish that he knew wouldn’t come true, Hestia didn’t know for sure.
No matter the reason, Bell was obviously extremely interested in the weapons at this shop.
“Hmmm…All right, this is it.”
Hestia folded her arms across her chest and decided it was about time she did something “godlike,” giving her “child” a present. She nodded to herself. After everything that had happened, Hestia wanted someone to realize that she was indeed a goddess. And being the warmhearted deity she was, she resolved to give Bell a present.
She figured that if she spent every val she had saved up since arriving on this world, she could get him something good. A small grin growing on her face, Hestia moved away from the window and toward the front door.
Doing her best to remember the angle of Bell’s gaze, Hestia worked out that the boy had been looking at a shortsword. More than likely, it was the one in the back of the display, sticking out of a jewel-encrusted treasure chest. Even Hestia had to admit the blade was a work of art.
Then, she saw the price tag. “Huh?” The sound drifted out of her mouth, her hand on the door handle and eyes blinking.
“Eighty million vals.”
Hestia’s fingers released the door, her body frozen in place.
Forgive me, Bell.
That’s impossible, she said to herself as she turned on her heel and left the shop as quickly as she could, cold sweat dripping down her neck.
That price was too big of a monster to slay. Hestia’s life savings were nothing but a helpless goblin at the feet of a dragon.
“Wait, isn’t this…”
Looking back over her shoulder at the redbrick building, Hestia realized it belonged to one of her friends.
Masters of the Forge, Hephaistos Familia. She had lived with them from after her arrival on Gekai up until very recently.
Being a brand name known around the world, the fact that she couldn’t afford a Hephaistos weapon should have been obvious. She took one last look at the billboard before taking off at a light sprint. Know your place, Bell, she said to herself, feeling defeated.
Robbed of her chance to show her godly prowess, Hestia sighed yet again as she made her way down the stone-paved path toward home, bathed in the last crimson light from the setting sun.
…My hair ties are in pretty bad shape.
Catching a glimpse of herself in another shop’s show window on Northwest Main, Hestia stopped to take a closer look.
The two bands that kept her shiny, jet-black hair up in a set of twin ponytails practically had one foot in the grave. Frayed and falling apart, they could break at any moment.
The only thing these hair ties were doing for her now was to make her look less dignified. Running her fingers over them, she looked at her reflection in the glass. Suddenly, the mannequins behind the glass caught her attention.
Each of the statues was wearing a dress as well as all sorts of protective accessories like amulets. Among the shop’s standing advertisements was a statue with very cute hair ties.
“…”
She stared at the blue bands on the mannequin’s head, mesmerized for a few moments. She jerked her shoulders before vigorously shaking her head side to side. A goddess can’t waste money, she practically screamed at herself, despite how much she wanted them.
Swish. She flicked her chin away from the shop window to get her eyes off of it. She took another quick glance from the corner of her eye before forcefully turning her shoulders away.
Making up her mind to live with the ones she had for now, Hestia wrapped her fingers around her hair bands and turned off West Main into a side street.
“…”
A pair of ruby-red eyes whose owner had yet to make his way home happened to catch a glimpse of what had just occurred. Hestia, however, didn’t notice.
It had now been a week since the founding of Hestia Familia.
Hestia looked at the boy in front of her, a worried look in her eyes.
“S-sorry I’m late…”
Bell walked through the door to their home trailing a cloud of dust, armor and clothes so dirty that Hestia could almost hear the fabric cough.
The clock on the wall showed that it was already past nine at night.
“…Bell, aren’t you working a little too hard recently?”
“N-no, I don’t think so?”
Bell grimaced as Hestia’s expression grew more and more concerned. “I’m fine,” he said to reassure her.
Bell had come home in this state every night for the past few days.
He’d get up really early, spend all day crawling the Dungeon, and come home late at night. The dirt and damage on his clothes and armor showed just how hard he was working; his body was faring no better.
Of course, Bell might have been a little too excited when he became an adventurer, but there was something different about him recently.
“Goddess, here. This is the money I earned in the Dungeon today.”
“Ah-haaa…”
Ka-ching. The coins inside a linen sack rattled as he handed it to her.
Every night, Bell always gave Hestia some of his profits from crawling the Dungeon to help support the Familia. It went without saying that he took most of it for himself, to pay for items and equipment repairs as well as to have a little pocket money.
Hestia undid the strap and took a look inside the bag. A quick glance told her there were at least 500 vals inside. Assuming that Bell took around 1,000 vals for himself to prepare for his next trip into the Dungeon, he had been making a lot more money than he used to. Hestia could tell just how much effort Bell was putting into his early-morning to late-evening excursions into the Dungeon.
In that case, the boy had to have a reason to want to make a lot of money as soon as possible.
“…Hey, Bell.”
“Ah, yes?”
“Are you hiding something from me?”
A very exhausted Bell had just grabbed a change of clothes and was headed toward the shower room when Hestia stopped him to ask her question.
Whether it was her divine intuition or just a feeling as a goddess that Bell was trying to keep a secret, she didn’t know. But she knew something was up.
Bell froze on the spot, something that Hestia saw as a very suspicious reaction.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha…wh-what are you talking about, Goddess? Of course I’m not.”
“…”
Hestia lowered her eyelids at Bell’s fake and forced laugh.
Ignoring Bell’s words that she wouldn’t have believed anyway, Hestia locked eyes with him. Tell me now, she mouthed at him, her aura on fire.
“…G-Goddess, I’m going to take a shower now, okay?!”
“Gah!”
Bell practically dove into the shower room, clothes in his hand and a nervous sweat running down his cheek. Hestia was surprised by the boy’s speed for a moment, but anger built within her the moment the door closed behind him.
There was a part of Hestia that couldn’t stand the fact that Bell was hiding something from her.
Over the past week, Hestia had come to like the boy and was glad that she had brought him into her Familia, made him a member of her family.
In return, the boy treated her like the goddess she was—and yet she could feel the warmth of the more personal bond with him.
Hestia couldn’t help but want to protect the naïve Bell. But at the same time she felt drawn to him, almost safe in his presence.
In this world of Gekai that was extremely harsh on her, Bell was the one who did everything he could to help Hestia.
She loved his smile. It always seemed to melt all of her worries away whenever she saw him.
“I tell you to spill it, and yet you refuse to crack, Bell…”
That could be the reason why she couldn’t allow Bell to have any secrets from her.
This feeling eating her from the inside could be the arrogance of a god who’d found something beyond their control or a feeling of betrayal of trust and loneliness as a family member.
Whichever one it was, it was putting Hestia in an extremely foul mood that was getting worse by the moment.
All right, then, if that’s the game you want to play…
A threatening light sparkled in her eyes. She glared at the door to the shower room and muttered, “Just you wait,” before turning on her heel and walking toward the kitchen.
She silently set to work preparing dinner.
“Um, Goddess…”
“You’re tired today, right, Bell? I’ll cook tonight; you go relax on the sofa.”
Hestia flashed a smile at Bell, who had changed into clean clothes after taking a shower. Bell looked like he wanted to say something, but the goddess’s smile sent a wave of relief through him. She must’ve forgotten about their earlier conversation.
Shing, shing. Seeing that her prey had let his guard down, Hestia smiled again at the “rabbit” while sharpening a knife out of Bell’s line of sight.
“So, Bell. Shall we update your Status tonight?”
“Um, sure.”
After finishing dinner, Hestia made a casual suggestion.
The white rabbit didn’t protest and did exactly as he was told.
The knife behind the smile was already razor-sharp.
Bell Cranell
Level I
Strength: I 49 -> I 58 Defense: I 5 Utility: I 66 -> I 72 Agility: I 98 -> H 107 Magic: I 0
Magic
( )
Skill
( )
Bell lay on his stomach on the bed as Hestia sat on his lower back and looked at the boy’s new Status.
As usual, Defense and Agility were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. While genuinely surprised that his Agility was already H after only one week, Hestia finished the process as quickly as she could.
—Now then.
A moment’s pause after the Status update was complete.
Hestia’s true nature suddenly emerged as her eyes sparkled ominously before she sprang the trap on the “rabbit” beneath her.
Flop. She had been sitting on his lower back when she suddenly fell on top of him.
“?!”
“—You’re not getting away this time, Bell.
“No……” came a very ominous sound from Hestia’s lips as she put her head right above Bell’s shoulder.
Her voice was low, her mouth close enough to Bell’s ears that he could hear her breathing. The questioning had begun.
Bell’s body jolted as if he’d just been struck by lightning, his face turning bright red.
“G-G-Goddess?! What are you doing?!”
“An interrogation. Because you seem to be hiding something from me, eh?”
Bell’s body shook again the moment he heard the words “hiding something.” He could feel the goddess’s soft body pinning him down as his body jerked from side to side.
“Did you know, Bell? No one can lie to a god!”
“Wh-what are you talking about…?”
“Ohooo. Trying to claim innocence, are you?”
Hestia’s eyes narrowed.
His face a full-blown red, Bell looked at Hestia’s expression from the corner of his eye. If he wasn’t scared before, he was terrified now.
A moment later.
Hestia wrapped both of her arms around Bell’s neck and squeeeeeezed as hard as she could.
“Dahh?! G-Goddess—?!”
“Now scream—scream it out, Bell!! And you still might be forgiven!”
“I DON’T KNOOWWWWWW!! I-I-I-I’M NOT HIDING ANYTHING FROM YOU, GODDESS!”
“Very stubborn…!”
“GHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!”
Hestia’s sizeable chest had made contact with Bell’s back. He could feel the soft pressure of something and heard an accompanying squish.
The shirtless Bell felt every inch of those somethings as they pressed up against him. Completely overwhelmed by the feeling of skin on skin, the boy shrieked repeatedly as his entire body blushed red under pressure.
Hestia pulled the boy up with her arms, making sure that he felt every inch of her as she pressed down.
Screams never stopped coming from the floors of the old church that night.
“I can hardly believe that Bell…!”
The next day.
Bell never cracked. Hestia had been in a particularly foul mood because of that all day. Even after coming home from her part-time job, she made no effort to hide the displeasure on her face.
Sitting on the sofa and reading a book, Hestia turned the pages with a lot more force than necessary.
Seriously, it’s almost like he’s daydreaming about money now instead of adventures in the Dungeon…There’s no way he’s being seduced by some strange woman, and she’s making him buy gifts for her…
Bell’s sudden devotion to crawling the Dungeon spurred on thoughts that normally wouldn’t have come into her mind. Hestia knew that her own family wasn’t that foolish, but her frustration only added fuel to the fire.
Then just destroy everything! She pictured Bell being lured into the lap of some Amazon woman, the two of them getting touchy-feely with each other before suddenly shaking her head. I don’t wanna see that, she angrily quipped at herself.
“Eh…?”
Clop-clop, the sound of shoes on the stone steps outside the door echoed through the room.
Now he’s too early, she said to herself as she waited for Bell to come through the door. She forced her eyes off her book and stared impatiently at the entrance.
The door should open at any moment. Knock-knock to dry thumps came from outside the door.
“I’ve come to pay you a visit, Hestia.”
“Huh……Miach?”
Someone a lot taller than Hestia was expecting made his way through the entrance.
Long hair the color of the ocean and a gray robe worse for wear, the god Miach was greeted by a wide-eyed Hestia.
“Word is you’ve created a Familia. I know I’m a little late, but I thought I should at least stop by and say congratulations.”
“What, you came all the way out here just for that?”
Despite only recently meeting him after descending from Tenkai, Miach had a lot in common with Hestia, especially in terms of their Familias. Since Miach had helped out Hestia a few times, the two of them had become casual friends. Miach took a step inside the room under the church as Hestia’s face changed into a warm smile.
“Ha-ha-ha, there is no such thing as wasted time when there’s a chance to get a new regular for my Familia. Think nothing of it.”
“Hee-hee, nothing gets past you.”
Miach Familia produced and sold healing items, like potions. Since his Familia was not very well known, Miach went to great lengths to reach new customers. After explaining that today was no different, he shared a laugh with Hestia.
“That being said…” he continued as he took a vial of blue liquid from his robe and handed it to the beaming Hestia.
“Think of this as a sample and as a gift to ensure that our Familias stay on good terms. Please accept it.”
“Ah, thanks! This helps a lot!”
“Sorry to change the subject, Hestia, but have you registered your Familia with the Guild?”
Miach asked her as Hestia reached out to accept the vial.
Huh? Hestia tilted her head, a look of confusion in her eyes. The male god took it as his cue to explain.
“Whether members of a Familia go into the Dungeon or not, as long as the group resides in Orario, they must inform the Guild. That’s what the registration is for.”
In name, the Guild was only in charge of overseeing the Dungeon. However, since the Dungeon was at the center of Orario’s economy, the Guild was in a position of considerable power within the city. Efficient and fair management had resulted in a peaceful city and considerable growth using the resources provided by the Dungeon. The Guild had presided over the Dungeon since the Old Age, acting as a caretaker of the city as well.
The Guild controlled everything that happened in the city, and Familias were required to be a part of the system.
“Oh, so Familias have to register just like adventurers do, huh? Well, they let us live here, so it’s only natural.”
“That’s exactly right. Just another one of the charms of Gekai.”
“All these complicated things had no place in Tenkai, eh?”
Yup, yup. The two deities nodded in agreement.
“So then, what to do? Since it looks like you haven’t registered yet, shall I go with you?”
“Are you sure? Actually, it would help me out a lot…”
“To tell the truth, I have nothing to do after this. So rather than being lonely during my free time, it would be better to help out a friend in need.”
“You’re the spitting image of what a god should be.”
“Ha-ha-ha, I get that a lot.”
The two of them left the hidden room under the church, emitting the passivity unique to the gods.
“I should fill all of these in, right?”
“Indeed. Don’t forget to sign your name using hieroglyphs.”
They were standing in the wide lobby of Guild Headquarters.
Hestia filled in the Guild registration paperwork as well as she could on her own and asked Miach for help when she had a question, as adventurers from many different Familias went about their business around them. A feathered quill in her hand, she had to stand on a stool to help her lean over the counter to write.
Light from the evening sun came in through the ceiling windows, casting the white lobby in an orange hue. Considering it was around the time that many adventurers left the Dungeon, many races of human and demi-human were making their way into and out of the Guild at this hour.
A party of smiling prums made their way out of the Exchange; a few animal men were making passes at the cute Guild receptionists across the way; an elf and a dwarf were engaged in a deep philosophical discussion. There was so much to see in the wide, white marble lobby of the Guild.
The only gods in the room, Hestia and Miach watched all of the adventurers with great interest.
“Miach, what is this thing here, Familia Rank?”
“A measure of a Familia’s influence as determined by the Guild…It’s a grade. While the content of a Familia’s activities is taken into account, the most important factor is combat potential and overall strength.”
Each Familia in Orario was given a ranking from S to I, the same scale that was used to rank an adventurer’s basic abilities in a Status. The higher the rank, the more trust and respect was given to that Familia by the Guild and other organizations. Of course, fear as well.
The gods who treated everything on Gekai as a game did everything they could to raise the rank of their Familias and enjoyed every minute of it.
“A mercantile Familia’s rank increases when they make an impact. A high rank means that customers can trust their products, and more adventurers choose to do business with them.”
“By the way, what’s your Familia’s rank, Miach?”
“Ha-ha-ha, it’s H.”
It went without saying that the newly formed and dirt-poor Hestia Familia would be assigned the lowest rank, I.
Familias were subject to the taxes of the city; the higher their rank, the more they paid.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Hestia, what does the child in your Familia look like?”
“Well, that question was out of nowhere.”
“What? The two of us are hopefully going to be working together for a long time, so I would like to know the child you have chosen to be your first member.”
“…A human boy with red eyes and white hair. His name is Bell Cranell.”
“Red eyes and white hair, huh…Oh, could that be him over there?”
“Huh?”
Hestia’s feathered pen stopped in mid-sentence and her head snapped up.
Following Miach’s line of vision to the corner of the lobby, she saw a white-haired human boy talking with a Guild employee.
“Bell…”
“I thought that was him. And…is he trying to give her something?”
The two deities watched as a very nervous Bell held out a small box in front of him and opened the lid to show the girl behind the counter what was inside. The girl, a half-elf looking very sharp in her Guild uniform, glanced down at the contents for a moment before saying a few things and smiling.
“A gift for his lady friend. Heh, looks like your boy’s got some skills.”
“…”
Hestia didn’t respond to Miach’s words and just watched the scene unfold in front of her.
The girl tapped Bell on the nose as the boy blushed and hid his face in embarrassment.
…Soooo, that’s how it is.
Said Hestia in the back of her mind, her eyes sending icy daggers at the two of them.
The reason that Bell had been getting up so early and working so hard in the Dungeon to make money was all to buy a present for that beautiful half-elf.
Hestia’s mood suddenly plummeted like a rock.
Hestia felt more and more displeasure watching her make fun of him, Bell’s face beet red and hands waving in front of his chest.
“Humph.”
“Oh…? Hestia?”
“Sorry, Miach. I’m going home.”
Shoving her paperwork to the employee on the other side of the counter and ignoring Miach’s attempts to stop her, Hestia left the Guild Headquarters. Leaving behind the boy who’d never even noticed her, she tore through the front garden with quick footsteps.
Damn it, I didn’t wanna see that…
Frustrated thoughts filled Hestia’s mind as she made her way down Northwest Main.
As for why she hadn’t wanted to see, Hestia already knew the answer.
The goddess wanted full possesion of him. No one else, just Bell.
At long last she had a family—something that she had longed for. So seeing him getting involved with someone who wasn’t her hurt. Don’t go to her, I’m the only one you need, and other selfish, childlike thoughts raced through her mind.
Hestia didn’t know if she was reacting like this because Bell was Bell.
A new image suddenly jumped into her head. What if Bell wasn’t the first child she blessed…? If he hadn’t been her first family member, then her heart wouldn’t feel like this. She wouldn’t care.
Bell, you’re such an idiot…
Hestia arrived at her Familia’s home an absolute wreck of intertwining emotions.
She walked straight to the back of the room and in one motion plopped facedown on her bed. Eyebrows locked in an angry frown, the sulking goddess pulled all of the sheets and covers into a mountain around her head.
She did her best to chase thoughts of Bell out of her mind. Hestia slammed her eyes shut; no light was getting to them, anyway.
Clink, clack.
The light sounds of dishes being softly placed on the table outside her cocoon reached Hestia’s ears.
Hestia gently opened her eyes in the darkness under her bed covers, the noises slowly waking her up.
Blinking over and over, she sluggishly started to emerge from beneath the blankets.
The sudden light from the magic-stone lamp as she popped her head out of the corner of the bed stung for a moment as her eyes adjusted.
“…”
Her vision was blurry, but the first thing she saw was the back of a boy with white hair.
She watched him walk between the kitchen counter and table many times as quietly as he could.
The smell of freshly made soup wafted into her nose a second later.
“…”
Pushing the blanket and sheets off her body, Hestia slowly sat up.
The boy with the white hair noticed right away and immediately came over to her.
“Good morning, Goddess.”
“…Unnn.”
Hestia nodded at Bell’s warm grin.
The clock on the wall read seven o’clock at night. The groggy goddess looked up at it and nodded again a few times in an effort to wake up.
Her twin jet-black ponytails shook from side to side.
“…Did you make dinner?”
“Yes. You looked really tired when I got home so…Sorry I didn’t wait for you.”
There was a simple salad and skinless steamed potatoes along with soup lined up on the table.
The soup had been poured into cute wooden cups, steam softly rising from them.
“…You’re home a lot earlier than usual today, aren’t you?”
Hestia’s voice was thick with irony as she watched Bell try to win her back with something as simple as a nice dinner.
“Did something good happen?” she said with the same tone, not bothering to look at him. Bell turned red and jumped for a moment before leaving the kitchen.
He went to a bookcase, his back to the goddess as he reached up to grab something. Whatever it was firmly hidden in his grasp, Bell returned to the goddess’s bed.
“Um, well…Goddess, this is for you.”
“…Eh?”
Hestia looked down at the box being held out in front of her.
Her eyes went wide as she froze before accepting the box with shaky hands.
She lifted the lid to find that there were two hair ties inside.
The bands were decorated with a blue ribbon that was tied to look like flowers and small silver bells.
“Bell, aren’t these…”
“T-the ones that you have look like they’re about to fall apart, so I, um, well…
“Got you a present…” Bell sounded like he could disappear at any moment.
Hestia was absolutely stunned. She looked up at the boy with wide eyes as he hid his blushing face behind his white bangs.
The hair ties were inside a box that Hestia had seen before—the same box that Bell had shown that half-elf back at the Guild Headquarters.
He hadn’t been trying to give the box to her, maybe he was asking for her opinion—a female opinion about whether or not she thought Hestia would like them.
Thinking back to the way that she’d been teasing him, Hestia realized that she’d made a terrible mistake.
And these hair ties…Did he see me…?
A few days ago, standing in front of that show window on Northwest Main.
The ribbon on Bell’s present looked almost exactly like the one on the hair bands a mannequin had been wearing that she really liked.
“I-I wasn’t trying to hide it, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise and, um…I’m sorry.”
“…”
Hestia softly smiled as she watched Bell fidget uncomfortably.
But a part of her also felt a little sad behind her blushing cheeks.
She’d given up on giving him a present that day, but he had done exactly the opposite.
His feelings for her were stronger than hers for him, and much more admirable.
“So you’ve been working so hard in the Dungeon just to give this to me?”
“You see, um…Yes.”
“Such an idiot…”
These hair ties couldn’t have been cheap, Hestia thought to herself as she looked at the quality of the materials.
Coming home absolutely exhausted every day, all to earn enough money to buy these as quickly as possible. He’d probably faced danger many times over.
Hestia closed her eyes as her face broke open into a smile.
“Bell.”
“Y-yes?”
“These—put them on me.”
“Huh?”
“They’re a present from you. I want you to put them in my hair.”
Bell didn’t know how to react so Hestia smiled, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the side.
After climbing out of bed, Hestia led Bell to the table and she sat down in her chair. “Quickly,” she softly said while looking up at him from her seat.
Sweat rolled down Bell’s face, as if something was about to explode, until finally he reached out and picked up the hair ties as if he’d made up his mind.
“Bell, thank you…And, sorry.”
“Eh?”
She giggled. “It’s nothing.” Hestia’s still-blushing face shifted into a warm grin as the timid boy started touching her hair.
Watching the look of sheer concentration on his face in the mirror across from her, Hestia felt a soft thump in her chest as the boy struggled to get her hair through the bands.
She practically purred like a cat every time she felt his fingers run through her black hair. Hestia enjoyed every moment of this special time together with Bell.
“…Hey, Bell.”
“Yes?”
“Meeting you, bringing you into my Familia…made me happy.”
Bell stopped moving to listen to the goddess’s quiet voice.
A moment later, the boy was beaming with an elated smile.
“I’m glad that I met you, too, Goddess.”
Hestia couldn’t help but smile and blush again as she watched the boy’s face in the mirror.
—There was no doubt she would grow to love this boy.
The little goddess knew that now.
All she wished for was to always be able to watch over him and to follow his story through the Status on his back.
And so it was that silver bells jingled atop clumsily attached hair bands.
They sounded with every movement of her jet-black twin ponytails.
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